New research from Stanford shows that physical activity — or lack thereof — may be a bigger driver of the obesity epidemic than diet is.

The rate of Americans reporting inactivity has skyrocketed.

The researchers looked at national survey results of people’s health habits — including diet and exercise — from 1988 to 2010. The stunner was the increase in people who reported no leisure-time physical activity.

In 1988, 19 percent of women were inactive. By 2010, that number had jumped to 52 percent.

For men, the rate nearly quadrupled, going from 11 to 43 percent in the same time period.

But what didn’t change was the number of calories people consumed. In other words, people were eating about the same but exercising significantly less.

Dr. Uri Ladabaum, a gastroenterologist at Stanford University Medical Center, led the study. He said that the research can only suggest an association between inactivity and increasing obesity, but that people should not decide diet is irrelevant to obesity.

“We would not want to suggest in any way that caloric intake is not important,” Ladabaum said. “But it raises the question of how much of the change in obesity prevalence might be related to physical activity.”

The researchers analyzed results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control. Participants reported their activity over the last month and their diet over the last 24 hours. Ladabaum said the team did not find a difference in total caloric count or breakdown by protein, carbohydrate and fat, over the 22-year study period.

The prevalence of obesity increased from 1988-2010, from 25 to 35 percent of women and from 20 to 35 percent of men.

The data included survey results from more than 17,000 participants between 1988-1994 and about 5,000 people each year from 1995 through 2010.

On a recent afternoon at BAHIA, a bilingual after school program in Berkeley, a small group of elementary school kids ran around breathlessly. They were playing “wolves and bunnies,” a tag game that takes some of its rules from basketball. Their coach Todd Whitehead played along, occasionally giving directions and stretching his hand out for a high-five. “Todd makes basketball seem fun,” said nine-year-old Kaydie. But this is about more than having fun. It’s a way for these kids to get the exercise they need.

Whitehead is a post-doctoral scholar in public health at U.C. Berkeley who has been coaching at BAHIA for three years. “My main goal,” he says, “is for the kids to have fun, get healthy, and get exposed to activities that will keep them healthy as they grow up.”

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that children get at least an hour of physical activity a day. But for many kids, that isn’t happening. Budget cuts in California have meant there often isn’t enough money for schools to offer PE or include sports in their after school programs. On top of that, low-income neighborhoods frequently lack parks or other safe places to play. Organized sports activities are limited.

That’s where Coaching Corps comes in. Whitehead volunteered to serve at BAHIA through the nonprofit program, which connects college-age coaches with kids from low-income neighborhoods. Here’s how it works: Coaching Corps chapters recruit volunteers from colleges, universities, and the community, then train them to be coaches. The organization then places coaches in existing after school programs in under-served areas. So far, around 1,600 coaches and 19,000 kids have participated.

In the United States, one in three children is now considered overweight or obese. For Latinos and African-Americans that number goes up to 40 percent. Coaching Corps teamed up with the University of California San Francisco to test whether its programs were making a difference. Using cardiorespiratory fitness tests, it found that almost half of participating kids didn’t meet recommended baseline fitness levels at the start of the program. But by the end of a year of playing sports with coaches, their fitness levels went up by 40 percent.

But the program is about more than just exercise. With a coach, kids not only get the physical activity they need, they also get important attention and mentorship from a caring adult. Coaches can teach kids about teamwork, persistence, and leadership. “Children need to know that they have a safe, caring, consistent adult who’s there for them,” says Sheilagh Polk, communications director for Coaching Corps. “That can make a really big impact in the life of a kid.”

Martha Cueva, who directs BAHIA’s educational program, says “If it weren’t for Todd we wouldn’t have a structured program this year. He brings so much energy to coaching. Coaching Corps gives these kids the opportunity to participate in organized sports that they wouldn’t otherwise have.”

Whitehead recalls his high school basketball coach, whose enthusiasm for the game made a big difference in his life. “It’s nice to pass that on.”

]]>http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2012/06/21/coaching-program-makes-exercise-fun-for-kids/feed/0Todd300x300Todd has become a mentor figure in addition to helping kids have fun while exercising. (Coaching Corps)